Sen. Melissa Hurtado

Existing law sets forth various powers and responsibilities for the State Department of Public Health concerning communicable disease prevention and control, in relation to persons, animals, and places, as necessary to protect or preserve the public health, and establishes other duties for the department in regulating food safety and sanitation standards. Existing law sets forth various functions for the Department of Food and Agriculture for protecting the agricultural industry and the public health, safety, and welfare through different mechanisms, including food inspection, animal and plant quarantine, and pest control. Existing law sets forth various responsibilities for the Department of Fish and Wildlife with regard to disease investigation, pest control, and conservation, in relation to certain animals and plants and to wildlife generally. This bill would require the State Department of Public Health, the Department of Food and Agriculture, and the Department of Fish and Wildlife to jointly establish and administer the One Health Program for the purpose of developing a framework for interagency coordination in responding to zoonotic diseases and reducing hazards to human and nonhuman animal health, in accordance with the One Health principles set forth by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The bill would require the 3 departments to develop the framework in consultation with stakeholders, as specified, and to establish goals, identify activities, and recommend legislation or other actions to advance One Health efforts. The bill would require the departments to periodically post joint reports on their respective internet websites and to submit the reports to the Legislative Analyst's Office. The bill would require the Legislative Analyst's Office to submit to the relevant policy and fiscal committees of the Legislature a single report containing an assessment of the framework, as specified, and recommendations for ways in which the Legislature could conduct regular oversight of the framework's implementation. The bill would condition implementation of these provisions on an appropriation by the Legislature.

Existing law prescribes various requirements to be satisfied before the exercise of a power of sale under a mortgage or deed of trust and prescribes a procedure for the exercise of that power. Existing law, until January 1, 2026, prescribes a process in connection with a trustee's sale of property under a power of sale contained in a deed of trust or mortgage on real property containing one to 4 residential units, inclusive, that provides specified bidding priorities to certain parties, including prospective owner-occupants. This bill would prescribe requirements that would apply to sales of real property containing one to 4 residential dwelling units, inclusive, that is acquired through foreclosure under a mortgage or deed of trust by an institution or that is acquired at a foreclosure sale by an institution, as defined. The bill would require the institution, during the first 30 days after a property is listed, as specified, to only accept offers from eligible bidders, as defined, and to respond, in writing, to all offers received from eligible bidders before considering any other offers. This bill would require an eligible bidder to submit an affidavit or declaration, as specified, with their offer to an institution. By expanding the crime of perjury, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. This bill would also prohibit an institution from conducting a bundled sale, as defined. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law, the California Emergency Services Act, among other things, creates the Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) , which is responsible for the state's emergency and disaster response services, as specified. Existing law requires Cal OES to establish the California Cybersecurity Integration Center (Cal-CSIC) with the primary mission of reducing the likelihood and severity of cyber incidents that could damage California's economy, its critical infrastructure, or public and private sector computer networks in the state. Existing law requires Cal-CSIC to provide warnings of cyberattacks to government agencies and nongovernmental partners, coordinate information sharing among these entities, assess risks to critical infrastructure information networks, enable cross-sector coordination and sharing of best practices and security measures, and support certain cybersecurity assessments, audits, and accountability programs. Existing law also requires Cal-CSIC to develop a statewide cybersecurity strategy to improve how cyber threats are identified, understood, and shared in order to reduce threats to California government, businesses, and consumers, and to strengthen cyber emergency preparedness and response and expand cybersecurity awareness and public education. This bill would require Cal OES to direct Cal-CSIC to prepare, and Cal OES to submit to the Legislature on or before January 1, 2024, a strategic, multiyear outreach plan to assist the food and agriculture sector and the water and wastewater sector in their efforts to improve cybersecurity and an evaluation of options for providing grants or alternative forms of funding to, and potential voluntary actions that do not require funding and that assist, those sectors in their efforts to improve cybersecurity preparedness. The bill would make related findings and declarations.

Existing law establishes the State Department of Public Health in the California Health and Human Services Agency. Existing law requires the department to collect data on various topics, including data on violent deaths as reported by various sources, as specified. This bill would require the department to establish, on or before January 1, 2024, and administer the Childhood Drowning Data Collection Pilot Program, which would collect detailed data on childhood fatal and nonfatal drownings in California, as specified. The bill would require the department, on or before July 1, 2024, to seek to collaborate with at least 5 but no more than 10 county child death review teams or other local agencies, as specified. The bill would require the department to submit various reports to the appropriate legislative policy committees, as specified. The bill would require the department, based on those reports, to develop a California Water Safety Action Plan for Children and a standardized form for counties to use in reporting drownings statistics. The bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2029.

(1) Existing law establishes the State Department of Social Services and requires the department to administer various public social services programs, including the California Work Opportunity and Responsibility to Kids (CalWORKs) program, under which each county provides cash assistance and other benefits to qualified low-income families and individuals, and the CalFresh program, under which supplemental nutrition assistance benefits allocated to the state by the federal government are distributed to eligible individuals by each county. This bill would require the department, subject to an appropriation by the Legislature, to administer the California Farmworkers Drought Resilience Pilot Project to provide supplemental pay in the form of cash assistance for eligible households to help meet their basic needs. The bill would define eligible household to mean a household in which one member of the household is a farmworker, as specified, and would define supplemental pay to mean unconditional cash payments of equal amounts issued monthly to eligible households with the intention of ensuring the economic security of those households. The bill would require the department to implement the pilot project by awarding grants to eligible entities, as defined, for the purpose of issuing the supplemental pay, and would require the department, in consultation with relevant stakeholders, to determine the methodology for, and manner of, distributing those grants. The bill would require an eligible entity, in order to receive a grant, to, among other things, present commitments of additional nongovernmental funding to supplement the grant in an amount equal to or greater than 50% of the amount of funding to be provided to the entity from the grant pursuant to the pilot project. This bill would prohibit supplemental pay received by an eligible household from being considered income or resources for purposes of determining the household's eligibility for benefits or assistance, or the amount or extent of benefits or assistance, under any state or local means-tested program. The bill would require the department, in consultation with stakeholders, and after consultation with the Legislature, to identify federal benefit and assistance programs that require an exemption or waiver in order for supplemental pay received by an eligible household pursuant to the pilot project to be excluded from consideration as income or resources for purposes of the federal program. The bill would require a state department or agency that administers a program identified by the State Department of Social Services to, if possible, approve an exemption or waiver or seek one from the federal government. This bill would require the department to work with at least one independent, research-based institution to identify existing, and establish additional, outcome measurements, and to submit a specified report relating to the pilot project to the Legislature on or before December 31, 2026. The bill would authorize the department to accept and expend funds from nongovernmental sources for the pilot project, as specified, and would authorize the department to accept in-kind contributions, including, but not limited to, financial mentorship services for households that receive supplemental pay pursuant to the pilot project. The bill would authorize the department to implement, interpret, or make specific the pilot project by means of a departmental directive or similar instruction. (2) The Personal Income Tax Law imposes taxes based upon taxable income at specified rates. Existing law, in modified conformity with federal income tax law, generally defines "gross income" as income from whatever source derived, except as specifically excluded. This bill would exclude from gross income, for purposes of the personal income tax, any supplemental pay received by a household pursuant to the pilot project described above. (3) This bill would repeal these provisions on January 1, 2027.

Existing law requires the State Department of Social Services to establish a statewide hotline as the entry point for a Family Urgent Response System to respond to calls from caregivers or current or former foster children or youth during moments of instability. Existing law requires the hotline to include, among other things, referrals to a county-based mobile response system, which counties are required to establish, for further support and in-person response. Existing law defines the term "current or former foster child or youth" for the purposes of these provisions as a child or youth found to be within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court as either a dependent or delinquent child and who is served by the county child welfare agency or probation department and a child or youth who has exited foster care to reunification, guardianship, or adoption. This bill would expand that definition to also include, among others, a child or youth who is placed in foster care and is the subject of a petition to declare them a dependent child of the juvenile court. By expanding county duties relating to the county-based mobile response system, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

The Planning and Zoning Law authorizes the legislative body of any county or city to adopt ordinances that regulate the use of buildings, structures, and land as between industry, business, residences, open space, and other purposes. This bill would prohibit a city or county legislative body from adopting or enforcing an ordinance requiring a public hearing as a condition of reconfiguring existing space to increase the bedroom count within an existing dwelling unit. The bill would apply these provisions only to a permit application for no more than 2 additional bedrooms within an existing dwelling unit. The bill would specify that these provisions are not to be construed to prohibit a local agency from requiring a public hearing for a proposed project that would increase the number of dwelling units within an existing structure. The bill would include findings that ensuring adequate housing is a matter of statewide concern and is not a municipal affair, and that the provision applies to all cities, including charter cities. By imposing additional duties on local officials, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law, the California Safe Drinking Water Act, requires the State Water Resources Control Board to administer provisions relating to the regulation of drinking water to protect public health. Existing law declares it to be the established policy of the state that every human being has the right to safe, clean, affordable, and accessible water adequate for human consumption, cooking, and sanitary purposes. Existing law requires the state board, by January 1, 2018, to develop a plan for the funding and implementation of the Low-Income Water Rate Assistance Program, as prescribed. Existing law requires the state board, by February 1, 2018, to report to the Legislature on its findings regarding the feasibility, financial stability, and desired structure of the program, including any recommendations for legislative action that may need to be taken. This bill would establish the Water Rate Assistance Fund in the State Treasury to help provide water affordability assistance, for both drinking water and wastewater services, to low-income residential ratepayers. The bill would make moneys in the fund available upon appropriation by the Legislature to the state board to provide, in consultation with relevant agencies, direct water bill assistance to low-income residential ratepayers served by eligible systems, as defined, and would require 80% of total expenditures from the fund to be directly applied to residential ratepayer accounts. The bill would require the state board, to the extent feasible, cost effective, and permitted under the California Constitution, to identify and contract with one or more third-party providers. The bill would impose requirements on the state board in connection with the program, including, among others, within 270 days of the effective date, as defined, adopting guidelines in consultation with relevant agencies and an advisory group for implementation of the program and preparing a report to be posted on state board's internet website identifying how the fund has performed. The bill would require the guidelines to include minimum requirements for eligible systems, including the ability to confirm eligibility for enrollment through a request for self-certification of eligibility under penalty of perjury. By expanding the crime of perjury, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would require, within 365 days of the effective date, the Public Utilities Commission to establish a mechanism for electrical corporations and gas corporations to, and would authorize the state board or third-party providers to enter into agreements with local publicly owned electric utilities and local publicly owned gas utilities to, regularly share specified customer data with the state board or third-party providers, subject to certain protections. The bill would require the state board to, among other things, coordinate with the commission to align criteria between all existing water rate assistance programs offered by investor-owned utilities and to ensure timely processing of payments to investor-owned utilities. The bill would make the operation of these provisions contingent on an appropriation in the annual Budget Act or another statute for these purposes. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.

Existing law requires all California state-owned or state-run institutions, except public universities and colleges and school districts, to purchase an agricultural product grown in California when the bid or price of the California-grown agricultural product does not exceed by more than 5% the lowest bid or price for an agricultural product produced outside the state and the quality of the California-grown agricultural product is comparable. Existing law also requires the institutions, when they solicit or intend to accept a bid or price for agricultural products grown outside the state, to accept the bid or price from a vendor that packs or processes these agricultural products in the state before accepting a bid or price from a vendor that packs or processes these agricultural products outside of the state when specified conditions are met, including that the bid or price of the agricultural product grown outside the state and packed or processed in the state does not exceed by more than 5% the lowest bid or price for the agricultural product packed or processed outside the state. Existing law requires a school district that solicits bids for the purchase of an agricultural product to accept a bid or price for that agricultural product when it is grown in California before accepting a bid or price for an agricultural product that is grown outside the state when the bid or price of the California-grown agricultural product does not exceed the lowest bid or price for an agricultural product produced outside the state and the quality of the California-grown agricultural product is comparable. Under existing law, these provisions only apply to a contract to purchase agricultural products for a value that is less than the value of the threshold for supplies and services for which California has obligated itself under the Agreement on Government Procurement of the World Trade Organization. This bill would revise and recast these provisions. The bill would instead require a California state-owned or state-run institution that purchases agricultural food products, as defined, to implement necessary practices to achieve a goal of ensuring that at least 60% of the agricultural food products that it purchases in a calendar year are grown or produced in the state by December 31, 2025. The bill would provide that this goal does not apply to local educational agencies and the segments of public postsecondary education. The bill would change the above-described requirement for school districts to apply to the purchase of a domestic agricultural food product that is grown outside the state, instead of an agricultural product that is grown outside of the state, and would expand the application of this requirement from school districts to local educational agencies. The bill would eliminate the above-described preference for in-state vendors. The bill would provide that the bill's provisions neither limit nor expand California's obligations under the Agreement on Government Procurement of the World Trade Organization. By creating new duties for local educational agencies, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.